Friends.

We are incredibly lucky to have a great group of wonderful friends. Not only are the littles friends to my kids but the bigs are also friends to me (& Matt). We have lots of fun getting together for regular playdates, special Easter egg hunts, gingerbread decorating, summer camping trips, after school playdates, week-end meals, etc.

Each one of our friends is special in his/her own way and we're having fun answering some pretty big questions about differences around these parts. But Mama, why do we have to do quiet activities? But Mama, why can't I knock that tower over? But Mama, why doesn't he like to hug? But Mama, why do we always have to play what s/he wants? And, my answer is always that everyone is different and that we all like and react differently to things.

One of our wee friends was here this morning for a playdate. He is one of the most interesting little people. He has been reading since he was three. Has a natural affinity for numbers/counting/time telling. He builds fantastic, intricate towers. He loves to play with my kids. He is one of the pickiest eaters I know. He also has autism. Lately, Olivia has been asking many questions about why this little friend is a bit different than most of her friends.

So, my friend brought over this book My Friend has Autism byAmanda Doering Tourville
It is awesome. It is simple. It is really easy to understand. It also helped to answer some of Olivia's questions. Check it out!

He Shoots, He ....Gets a Penalty?

Last week Matt won tickets through work for the local hockey game. So we bundled up the kids in their retro hockey jerseys (they were my brother's as a kid) and headed out to the Good Ol' Hockey game. The kids had a blast and so did we. Olivia enjoyed taking pictures of everything...mostly the zamboni though. Elliott had great fun watching the zambonis come out not once or twice but THREE times! He was actually really into the game too and followed the puck up and down the ice.

Sooooo excited!

MmmmmmmmmmMuffins!

Anyone remember this place? They had such yummy coffee. I'm sure the muffins were delicious too.
I'm always on the look out for new muffin recipes as I bake some at least 3 times a week most weeks. Recently, on Pinterest I found a new recipe for Carrot Muffins. Yum. The recipe was originally from Here but I changed a few things (and will change a few more the next time I make them). But, they were really, really yummy! Here is the recipe!

Carrot Muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

2/3 cup dark brown sugar (Next time I will cut this in half- they were way too sweet for us)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch fine salt

1 egg

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

I (generous) cup grated carrot

Preheat oven to 350

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a medium bowl, then add to dry mixture. Stir until just combined, then add carrots & stir until incorporated.

Grease muffin tin (or use cups) and bake at 350 for 15ish minutes for 24 mini muffins! Yummy. For 12 large muffins bake for 25-30 minutes.

Mama, the living room is raining...

Uh oh. Certainly NOT something you want to hear two days before your extended family is due to arrive to celebrate Christmas. Luckily my brother had called to say he was coming to help us make sugar cookies or we would have stayed upstairs for some quiet time and our whole living room would have been flooded. Yikes. We're also lucky that we caught it before it did any damage to our furniture/floors/area rug/piano/Christmas tree or gifts. However, a large chunk of the ceiling needs to be replaced and b/c we currently have "popcorn" ceilings we've decided to refinish the entire ceiling.

So, yesterday while I corralled the kids upstairs with puzzles, books, organizing and yes a bit of telly Matt and FIL put up new dry wall. It took considerably longer than we anticipated it would (oh, about 6 hours longer than we thought). Now for the messy part (scraping off the stucco, retaping/sanding/painting/etc).

Of course, Elliott thought the whole thing was fascinating and sat on the sidelines with his new drill (that looks just like daddy's) just in case they needed some extra hands.

Who are we?

We. I say that a lot. I'm definitely a "we-er" so is my husband, Matt.

I am Jen, early 30s, stay at home mama, crafty, granola-ish, lover of pretty fabric/paper. I spend my days with my two kids Olivia (age 5.5 years) and Elliott (age 3 in two weeks). We do lots of crafts, lots of baking, lots of singing/playing instruments, lots of reading and a little bit of outside stuff (but I fully admit that Daddoo is the outside guy!). A few days a week Lib goes to Senior Kindergarten and I get to spend my day with just Ell. We're both always delighted to pick her up at the end of the day though. Man we miss her when she is at school!

My other half is Matt. Love of my life. Father of my children. Husband of my dreams. Best friend I could ever have. He spends his days working in insurance (yawn), his evenings being the best dad ever, and his later evenings reading and writing and snuggling with me (cheese? yes).

We have a really wonderful life. It is simple and perfect for us. We like to spend all of our time together, we've always been like that actually. By always I mean since we were teenagers in high school- yep we've been together that long. In fact, we both went to the same University together as well. We've been married for 7.5 years together for 13 years.

That's us in a nutshell.

Here is a pic of us from the summer when we were camping with friends of ours. We haven't shwered in days. Haha.

Here we go!

Here it is. My new blog. A woo to the hoo...

It's a new year and I'm feeling the need for a new space. I need a place to share my thoughts, my crafty endeavours and my daily happenings as a mom of two!

I have a few goals for the year...
1. Learn to knit
2. Spend some time taking care of me (spend more time crafting, spend some time reflecting, continue to take breaks/time for me).
3. Spend more time smiling, playing and saying yes.

Today, we took the kids to see the new Chipmunks movie "Chipwrecked". It was adorable and the kids loved it (although I think they loved the popcorn more). It is so fun to see the kids in new situations like these....Lib was laughing along with all the silly moments and Ell was laughing b/c everyone else was which of course made us laugh even more. I love to see my kids happy. And, yay to one more day with daddy home although he'll be working with his dad to fix our living room ceiling. Oy. Good times.